Active rest

[PrimiFit]

I made a video of a dynamic stretching routine I usually do on my off days. Actually, I use it as a warm up too. I've found that it helps with recovery and maintains flexibility.

PrimiFit: Dynaamista venyttelyä / Dynamic Stretching

My wife and I usually put the video on and follow the exercises, which is kind of weird, beucause it's me on the video  .

[Inger]

Nice!!!
I will try this - as I started a few weeks ago working out (after a few years break...). 3 days / week a 1,5-2 hours.
Feels so good! I am already stronger, and have to increase weights. Makes fun!

I really like to work out fasted, usually at 11 AM or so. Is that good?
I eat a lot afterwards then!


I live in Finnland too BTW.

Inger
 

[Dorothy]

That almost the same as the warm-up I learned 30 years ago for karate except some of the moves would be included in a 10-count pushup series. Added to that would be foot, ankle, wrist and elbow flexibility movements - and neck and head too. You want to include all the joints. It's amazing how universal these things are. Primary as well as primal. 

[PrimiFit]

Yes, it's not a comprehensive routine and I should put a neck and ankle exercises to my dynamic stretching too. Thanks for reminding me .

[PrimiFit]

Inger:

Thanks! Nice to know that you live in Finland . You're not finnish though?

If your aim is to get stronger and leaner, I would suggest to shorten your training sessions to 20-45 min or an hour max. Take all the fluff away and keep the compound exercises. Then you can actually focus on your goals .

Training fasted may help in slimming down but it will slow you down during your workouts, so you don't get as much out of them. In the end, it might be more efficient to eat something low glycemic and easily digestible before training (perhaps an hour before).

[PrimiFit]

Here's another video:

PrimiFit: Venyttelyä / Stretching

It's regular stretching this time. The routine I'm showing there is convenient for outdoors, especially in the winter, and you can use it as it is between your warm up and your workout.

If you double the reps per side, you can use it as a recovery stretch routine.

It's not a full body routine, so for that you'd have to also stretch abs, forearms and neck.

[Inger]

Hello Primifit!

I just finshed your workout nr. 2 + 1, both.

I really like them! Now I am sweating already... Even if they was quite easy! Nice.
It is funny to do them looking at your video, feel so much easier and funnier, like you and your wife also do it.
It was not my off-day, I trained 1 h and 50 min. today.
First 20 min. fast walking, then 1 h weights, then 30 min. fast walking. That was too much, was it?
I just was not tired at all...
What can happen if I do too long sessions? If it is only 3 to 4 times / week? Is it still too much? I do eat a lot, enough to build strength I guess.. about 1400 - 2200 calories / day. It varies a lot, but protein around 100 g/day or more.
I have a quite sedentary lifestyle otherways, you see..
(I am 166 cm and weight 54 kg)

Had no time for stretching today, so that is why I did your workouts today additionally.

I am Norwegian (my both parents are, so are my passport too), but born in Finland. I lived in Germany the last 9 years though.
Now I live 30 km west from Helsinki.

So fun to have another from Finland here.

Have you found some good primal food sources?
I eat a lot of elk meat, the season is over for fresh, now I get only prefrozen.
I have started to experiment with fish-stock last days, looks like it is a great mineralsource!
I make it from wildcaught fish, sometimes Finnish ones but mostly Norwegian like Turska and such. Makes so delish stock!!
I cook it at low heat for 4 hours. Great source for calcium, and lot of different thing that are hard to get from raw food.
The fishhead is especially a treasure, with the glands in them. Very healthy.
I feel great from the stock. I will experiment for a while and am curious if it is so great as I feel it is.
Are you eating only raw, PrimiFit?
I drink teas too. Like pakurikääpä-tea. It tastes a bit like coffee. Also tea from herbs like nettles, peppermint..
I love to use local food sources.

Inger

[PrimiFit]

I'm glad that my videos are helpful to you .

Long workouts start to take toll on your testosterone levels and the workout becomes less productive, especially if your goal is to gain strength and muscle. If you want to do more cardio, I suggest that you do it separately.

How long have you been lifting weights and what kind of movements are you doing in one workout?

In my opinion you eat enough, so that's good.

Which town do you live? I live in Helsinki.

I have found some pretty good ones and I eat mostly raw when ever I can afford it. I used to drink raw goat's milk but I lost the source . I'm also a fan of stocks. I store all the bones from meals in the fridge and time to time make a huge stock, which I store in the fridge for future uses. I buy most of my food from a market hall in Hakaniemi and they have some pretty good products there. Also, the service there is exellent .

[Inger]

Hello Primifit,
I live in Kirkkonummi.
I love to go shopping in Hakaniemen halli too!!!! It is there where I got all my lambshearts and livers and elkmeat, from Hakkarainen! Cool!
You can by raw organic goatmilk from Lentävä lehmä, the cheese-shop there, you have to order it and they get it Tuesdays. I just ordered some today. They have colostrum (ternimaito) too! I drink it at times, raw, I have got no negative symptoms from it AFAIK, just feels great!

I eat a little cooked at times too, I very well know what I can tolerate or what not.
Wen I am very low in money I eat "seitä - pakastettu" it is wildcaught and very cheap fish. I just heat it very gently, just until cooked. I feel great from that too.
But mostly I at raw, all organs always raw, meat also always raw, most fish too.

My workouts are self designed.
I do about 3 times a week, one session certain muscles, the next others. I have split up muscle groups in too.
I do bot legs and upper body every time, just different muscles. Maybe so 6 different muscles each session.
So every muscle get at last 3 days rest.
I do 12 - 25 repetitions and 3 sets each. I have thought about adding more weight and do fever reps..
I do no squats, just leg-press, about 70 kg 25 x 3 but I have been thinking about quitting it and do squats with weights instead. I dunno, I don't want very big legs though.. But nice and muscular. Maybe they want go big anyway?
I have been training only one month.. before that I had years without any sports. It feels SO good to do something again!
I already had to add weights a couple of times, I am going stronger fast!

Inger

[MarkC]

PrimiFit,

Nice warm-up. I love to do dynamic stuff to warm-up on gym days. I also do dynamic stretching between sets when I rest 4-5 mins for strength training. Dynamic stretching doesn't interfere with my work-out like static stretching does. But static stretching is better for actually increasing range of motion and preventing injury so I do that at other times of the day, usually post work-out or in the evening at home.

[MarkC]

Inger,

you are probably exercising more than six muscles per workout. There over six-hundred muscles in the human body, if you attempt to exercise each one in isolation, it would take a very long time. Not even professional body-builder attempt this. Unless you're a bodybuilder, it is much more effective to do compound exercises instead of isolation exercises. Time is a limited resources so if you want to get the most results from your time in the gym it's best to pick compound exercises that work the body as an integrated system, the way were designed to move. You only need a few basic exercises. The squat (essentially pushing against the ground with your feet) works almost every muscle in your body if done correctly.

You don't have to worry about getting big muscles. Women's bodies do not normally produce enough testosterone to maintain large muscles. And if you did have high testosterone, it wouldn't matter what you do in the gym because you would have big muscles already. Even men with lots of testosterone have to follow special body-building routines and eat lots of carbs in order to increases their muscles beyond their normal size.

So give squatting a try - it's fun, it's gives the best bang for your buck in the gym and it does wonderful things for the derriere!

[PrimiFit]

Thanks MarkC.

Listen to this guy, Inger . He's right. Compound exercises are the key. Start doing squats with free weight as soon as you can. Start light so that you learn proper technique and then start adding weight as you progress.

Drop out all isolation exercises unless you have stability issues in your joints.

If you've been doing 12-25 reps for two months or so, you can start doing maby 8-10 reps for 3 sets now. If you start with a new exercise, it's worth doing more reps with lighter weight, though. You must learn movement first.

It's so weird that we both shop in Hakaniemi . I didn't know that they sell lamb hearts there. I do my dairy shopping in Lentävä Lehmä, but I didn't realize that they sell raw goat's milk.

Who knows, maybe we'll cross paths one day .

[Inger]

Okay guys, I will listen to you both.
I just checked out these compound exercises and will try them next time in the gym.
Thank you so much for you sharing your knowledge.

PrimiFit,
yes that is funny about Hakaniemen halli.
Hubby mostly shops for me in winter as I seldom go to the city, but at times I do go there myself!
I guess they have lambs hearts only in season, I got some until before Christmas. Maybe they still have? I have not asked.
Lambs hearts are just awesome. Makes me feel so good.
But Elk heart are the best. OMG the feeling I get from them. You HAVE to try them PrimiFit!!!
Next fall just ask for it! Elk innards. Costs almost nothing. I got a whole plasticbag full, kidneys, lungs, heart, liver.
All together 35,00 €. That is gold. Really. I have them cut up in my freezer now, and enjoy them regularly - raw.
They are like medicine to me.

Inger

[PrimiFit]

No problem. Tell us how you progress .

Raw organs; that's hard core. I've eaten raw liver, but I haven't dared to eat raw kidneys or lungs. Heart I would eat if I'd find some good ones. You're right. I have to try them! 35 euros is really cheap.

[Inger]

PrimiFit,
I guess I have a problem.
Look, this is me after only one month of lifting - befor that, zero sport, sedentary life. I am starting to get big.
It does not look very feminine at all.

....

My arms are quite big.. this is in relaxed state - no sport for 3 days.



What to do now. I love lifting!
Do you think if I lift 20 reps x 3 my muscles would not get bigger..? But I really want to get strong, I do!!!
But I want to look like a woman too..

Inger

[aLptHW4k4y]

You could just lift smaller weights if you're concerned about getting too big muscles. Women have hard time gaining muscles though so I wouldn't really worry.
From the pictures you look quite right btw, I don't see any big arms at all :-) If they are bigger now then that means you used to be too thin

[Adora]

I think you are still very feminine. Can you send a better pic that shows what you're seeing?

[cherimoya_kid]

From what I understand, holding VERY heavy weights in a static position (without moving) builds strength without increasing size.

[PrimiFit]

Inger, you don't need help . You look awesome and very feminine. Feminine does not mean weak.

If you want to lift and not gain too much muscle, try to lift heavier weights for 1-4 reps for multiple sets. That will make you stronger but it won't make you big. Just make sure that you do some higher rep and lighter weight stuff every now and then to maintain good conditioning.

[Inger]

Hmmm.. Thank you all for your support!
Adora, I appreciate another womans "eye".. no more pictures for now..
Cherimoya, that is somehow similar to what PrimiFit suggest I guess!
That helped I have to say.

And thak you, PrimiFit for your suggestion about lower reps / more sets!
I will do that for now.
Cause I do like to lift as much as I can, it feels so fun to me, and does nice things to my mind. 

Inger

[PrimiFit]

No problem , just make sure you have learned the proper technique and have done some higher rep stuff with each exercise before starting a low rep strength training program.

Also, here's another video on Dynamic Stretching:

PrimiFit: Dynaamista venyttelyä - osa 2 / Dynamic Stretching - part 2 - Personal Trainer Helsinki

Please like/comment/subscribe and let me know what you think about it!

[Inger]

I think your new video is funny PrimiFit!
Looks like almost meditative.. I am going to try it out today..

Inger

[PrimiFit]

Great . Tell me how you liked it.

[Inger]

PrimiFit,
I did it yesterday, and I liked it! 
The jumps made me sweat, they did.. But nice!
I will do this regularly, I think it is much more fun to do stuff in front of a video.. 

I do wonder why my shoulders often makes this funny sound "knacks".. you know.. when I move them around like in the vid. What could it be? Maybe I need to do more stretching and such?

Inger
(there was no more Colostrum available in Hakaniemen halli this week.. somebody buyed 100 (!!!) liters of it! Uh.Was it you..?  They will get more this week or the next BTW..)

[Adora]

Hi Inger
     I gave up on the gym because I could never achieve the feline like lean muscles I wanted. I came much closer without weights or machines. I fell in love with MovNat and Parkour. This is play to me. I love it and my desire to improve comes from seeing a new move and thinking YES I want to do that. I eat better so I can be healthier so I can have more fun. I had some fun at gyms, but mostly I was just getting through it to improve physically.
      I think that the activities that resonate strongly in your heart transform your body more into you. Which is in tune with and therefore beautiful to you. If you love lifting then there should be a way but I didn't find it. I agree with the advice to try compound body movements. They gave me much more strength with a sleek sexier look. I am stronger running, jumping, and climbing because I use my whole body, active legs, strong fluid core, and working arms. Do they have a climbing rope or wall at your gym? YouTube has a great instructional video on Parkour quadrapedial motion that is fun and it is an intense workout. I would go around my house on all fours chasing my cats and dog, and I was exhausted. Each step is a push up.
      I also got  strong and remained very feminine with yoga.  John Baptiste is tough. You will get muscles with his video. It's on Netflix.
     If you don't like these, than something else. Push ups and pull ups are whole body action. They tone everywhere at once so you come out tight and strong - no bulk. With weights, I got boyish bulky muscles and I was unhappy. I have a femanine shaped friend who loves her kettle bells. I was going to start with her because she goes on and on about how great they are, but I got hurt so I have no personal experience. I saw nothing boyish in your picture, but I too was disappointed with how lifting looked on me.